1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device module, and particularly, to an LCD device module capable of simplifying a mechanical structure where an LC panel and a backlight unit are mounted, of maintaining strength, and of implementing a narrow bezel type
2. Background of the Invention
Recently, many types of portable devices such as a mobile phone and a notebook computer, and information electronic devices such as HDTV for implementing high resolution and high quality are being developed. According to this trend, demands for flat panel display (FPD) devices applied to such devices increase. The FPD device includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a PDP (Plasma Display Panel), an FED (Field Emission Display), and an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes), etc. Among such FPD devices, the LCD device is being spotlighted due to massive production, easy driving, high-definition quality and a large screen.
The LCD device uses a principle of a passive type transmission display element, which displays gray scale of a desired image by controlling the amount of light passing through an LC layer, by refractive anisotropy of LC molecules. Therefore, the LCD device is provided with a backlight unit for providing light to the LC layer for image display. The backlight unit is categorized into two types according to a structure of an optical source.
One is a direct type backlight unit where a lamp (optical source) is disposed on a rear surface of an LCD panel, and light is directly irradiated to the LCD panel from the lower side. Another is an edge type backlight unit where a lamp is disposed on a side surface of the LCD panel, and light undergoes a progress direction change towards the LCD panel through an optical sheet, etc.
In the direct type backlight unit, light emitted from the lamp is directly supplied to the LCD panel. Accordingly, the direct type backlight unit can be applied to an LCD panel of a large screen, and can implement high brightness. Owing to these advantages, the direct type backlight unit is applied to an LCD panel for TV of a large screen.
On the other hand, in the edge type backlight unit, a lamp is installed on a side surface of the LCD panel, and provides light to the LCD panel through an optical sheet (i.e., reflection plate and light guide plate). This may cause a difficulty in applying the edge type backlight unit to an LCD panel of a large screen, and in implementing high brightness since light is supplied through the light guide plate. However, it is advantageous that the LCD device module has a small thickness since the backlight unit is disposed on the side surface of the LCD panel. Accordingly, the edge type backlight unit is mainly applied to an LCD device of a portable apparatus requiring a thin display device.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device module having a direct type backlight unit provided with a light emitting diode (LED) in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional LCD device module comprises an LCD panel 10 for displaying images, a backlight unit 20 for providing light to the LCD panel 10, and a mechanical structure 30 for modularizing the LCD panel 10 and the backlight unit 20.
The LCD panel 10 has a structure where an LC layer is interposed between two substrates facing each other and to be attached to each other. As a signal is applied to the LCD panel 10 from a driver unit, light transmittance of the LC layer is controlled to implement image display.
The backlight unit 20 is disposed on the rear surface of the LCD panel 10, and includes a plurality of LED PKGs (packages) 21, an LED substrate 22 on which the LED PKGs 21 are bonded, a double-side tape member 23 for insulating the rear surface of the LED substrate 22 and a mechanical structure 30 disposed therebelow from each other and fixing the LED substrate 22, and a reflection plate disposed above the LED substrate 22, and configured to expose the LED PKGs therethrough. And, the backlight unit 20 includes a diffusion sheet 27 disposed above the reflection plate 26 and diffusing light emitted from the LED PKGs 21 to an entire region of the LCD panel 10, and a prism sheet 28 disposed on the diffusion sheet 27.
The mechanical structure 30 includes a guide panel 31, a side supporter 35 and a cover bottom 37. More specifically, the guide panel 31 mounts the LCD panel 10 at an inner stair-stepped portion, and guides each edge of the LCD panel 10. The guide panel 31 may be formed of white synthetic resin having high reflectivity so as to inward reflect light emitted from the LED PKGs 21.
The case top 33 is coupled to an upper unit of the LCD panel 10, and fixes the LCD panel 10 together with the guide panel 31. And, the case top 33 encloses the front surface and the side surfaces of the guide panel 31.
The side supporter 35 is disposed below the guide panel 31 thus to be coupled to a cover bottom 37 to be later explained, and allows a distance between the optical sheets 27 and 28 and the LED lamp 21, by supporting the optical sheets 27 and 28 of the backlight unit 20.
On an inner bottom surface of the cover bottom 37, the LED substrate 22 of the backlight unit 20 is mounted. And, the cover bottom 37 is coupled to the guide panel 31 and the case top 33.
In such LCD device module, a non-display region where no image is displayed is stably fixed by the guide panel 31 and the case top 33. And, the non-display region is a minimum margin occupied by the side supporter 35 on the rear surface of the diffusion sheet 27, which is designed to have a width (a) of about 28.3 mm˜34.2 mm.
However, a recent LCD device is designed to so that the non-display region (bezel portion) has a minimized width (a) for implementation of a narrow bezel type. Furthermore, it is limited to reduce the width of the non-display region due to a required minimized margin.
Especially, in the conventional LCD module, the cover bottom 31 is formed to have four side surfaces coupled to the guide panel 31, by upward bending each side surface of a single metallic plate. This may cause deformation or transformation of the cover bottom 31.